7. Take the Weekends Off

Although there is some wisdom in this advice, believing that it’s okay to forget about diet and exercise for the entire weekend will lead to no weight loss at best and weight gain at worst. When changing eating habits and dieting, it’s important to remember that no food is strictly forbidden and a cheat meal will not derail an entire program, but moderation is the key to success. A weekend free-for-all of binge eating can and will eliminate any successes and gains made during the week. As an example to put numbers to it:

A 500 calorie/day decrease during the week = -2500 calories/week
Binging an extra 500 calories/meal on the weekends (6 meals X 500 calories) = +3000 calories
Overall calories = Additional 500 calories/week

In this example, not only was there no calorie deficit from the original eating habit, but there was actually an increase in calories consumed per week, which means the dieter would be gaining weight over time.

Reference: SF Gate